TORONTO — Digital media platform Complex Canada, operated by Corus Entertainment, announced today it has partnered with Appleton Estate Jamaican Rum to launch a new digital series, Hidden Gems, celebrating Jamaican excellence in Canada.
Over four episodes, the series spotlights “some of Canada’s most established trailblazers and budding new creatives in music, style, and visual arts, introducing audiences to some of the country’s most innovative Jamaican-Canadian creators,” reads a press release.
The series features Appleton Estate Jamaican Rum master blender Joy Spence (pictured), known as the spirits industry’s first female master blender, who is joined by four esteemed Jamaican-Canadian creatives, including…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC announced today it will not regulate access to fibre in-building wire (IBW) in multi-dwelling units (MDUs) across the country, stating it found “that access to fibre IBW is not an essential service.”
This decision was outlined in Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2021-239, which follows a public proceeding announced in December 2019.
The notice of consultation itself followed a series of decisions and statements on the issue of fibre IBW in MDUs starting in 2018 when Cloudwifi, an independent ISP, alleged Bell disconnected its customers at two Ontario properties where the company had been using Bell fibre…
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TORONTO — NBCUniversal International announced today hayu, its reality TV subscription streaming service, is now available through Xbox consoles.
NBCUniversal says this is the first console partnership for hayu, which can now be accessed in 22 territories, including Canada, via the hayu app through the Microsoft Store on Xbox.
“Through Xbox’s industry-leading range of consoles and the Microsoft Store on Xbox, reality fans can enjoy a seamless and convenient viewing experience of the best reality TV — all through one entertainment hub,” said Hendrik McDermott, managing director of hayu, in a press release.
The hayu subscription video-on-demand service offers more than 8,000…
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TORONTO – Unifor announced yesterday it has reached a tentative deal with Bell for craft workers after eight months of bargaining.
The tentative agreement for Bell Craft, the company’s technicians, was unanimously recommended by the bargaining committee, although details will not be released until after it is voted on by the membership at upcoming ratification meetings, according to a press release.
“This past year, people across Canada realized the importance of our telecommunications sector, and the workers who make it run,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor national president, in a press release. “The strength of our telecom industry is thanks to passionate,…
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ONTARIO – While Ontario Connects has generally been welcomed by the industry, organizations that represent small, independent internet service providers have some concerns about how the province’s $4 billion plan to bring high-speed Internet access to the entire province by 2025 will unfold.
“We of course welcome the Ontario government’s substantial investment in extending broadband to everyone across the province,” said Jay Thomson, CEO of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA), in an email to Cartt.ca.
“We question, however, whether a reverse auction approach will generate the best return on the government’s investment. Cheapest is not always best, especially when…
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TORONTO — WarnerMedia Access Canada, a Canadian talent development organization established last year by U.S. media conglomerate WarnerMedia, announced yesterday it is bringing the company’s Access to Action (ATA) program to British Columbia in July with plans to expand to other regions of the country over the coming months.
“The program will provide individuals who haven’t traditionally had pathways into the entertainment industry with access to below-the-line job opportunities on WarnerMedia productions across the province,” reads a press release announcing the launch of the program in B.C.
Currently, several WarnerMedia productions are filming in the province, including Batwoman, DC’s Legends…
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OTTAWA – The federal government today launched a consultation on the modernization of the Copyright Act, specifically addressing developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT).
The consultation, launched by Innovation, Science and Industry and Canadian Heritage, touches on topics including text and data mining, authorship and ownership of works created by AI, and infringement and liability regarding AI, according to a press release.
Canadians are invited to read the full consultation paper, published by the government today, and to submit comments on it by September 17, 2021.
This consultation builds on reports from the 2019…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Canada’s large internet service providers (ISPs) are testing the court system’s appetite for further precedent-setting decisions on piracy, requesting the court force blocks on live streaming hockey content with changing IP addresses.
In May, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld an order by a lower court forcing ISPs to block the websites of alleged copyright infringer GoldTV, which used an IPTV service to allegedly sell unlicensed content for a monthly fee. The ISPs initially asked the court in July 2019 to rule against GoldTV by temporarily banning the service from operating until a decision to permanently ban…
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First time such an action filed in court, experts say
By Ahmad Hathout
Correction: A previous version of this story misquoted James Plotkin as saying the court has discretion to go below the statutory damage guidelines for violations of the notice regime. In fact, Plotkin was speaking about the court’s discretion with respect to statutory damages for copyright infringement, not notice violations, which is dealt with separately in the Act. The quote has been removed from the story.
SOME MOVIE STUDIOS – who are now making their names in Canada not necessarily for their films but because they have laboured to bring…
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TORONTO — Humber College in Toronto announced last week it will establish what it calls the first “ATSC 3.0 Living Lab” in Canada thanks to a total of $3 million in grants from the federally funded Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
ATSC 3.0 is the next-generation IP-based global television broadcast standard set to replace the current North American standard, ATSC 1.0, explains Humber College’s press release.
(We first wrote about the ATSC 3.0 standard in February 2020.)
With the help of $2 million from NSERC over five years…
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